Albanian Sign Language
Albanian Sign Language | |
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AlbSL | |
Gjuha e Shqipe e Shenjave | |
Native to | Albania |
Native speakers | 3,000 (2007)[1]p. 196 |
language isolate or creole | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | sqk |
Glottolog | alba1271 |
Albanian Sign Language (AlbSL, Albanian: Gjuha e Shenjave Shqipe) is one of the deaf sign languages of Europe. It is unrelated to other sign languages of the Balkans.
It is relatively young, having developed primarily since the collapse of Communism in 1990. During the communist era, deaf people did not associate with each other on a regular basis. Their communication was primarily with hearing people, and so was strongly influenced by Albanian, with extensive use of fingerspelling and initialized signs, along with some gestures borrowed from hearing people. After the collapse of communism, deaf people began to congregate and a fully-fledged sign language developed. They invented new signs to replace the former use of fingerspelling, and also came into contact with International Sign and other European sign languages, resulting in numerous loan words. The language continues to change rapidly, with innovations tending to radiate from the capital, Tirana, to rural areas.[1]
References[]
Languages of Albania | |
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Official language |
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Minority languages | |
Sign languages |
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^a Sign-language names reflect the region of origin. Natural sign languages are not related to the spoken language used in the same region. For example, French Sign Language originated in France, but is not related to French. Conversely, ASL and BSL both originated in English-speaking countries but are not related to each other; ASL however is related to French Sign Language.
^b Denotes the number (if known) of languages within the family. No further information is given on these languages. ^c Italicised languages demark which languages have gone to sleep or have become extinct. |
- Languages of Albania
- Sign language isolates
- Articles with short description
- Short description matches Wikidata
- ISO language articles citing sources other than Ethnologue
- Articles containing Albanian-language text
- AC with 0 elements